Primary Solutions for Primary Care, a report from an Ontario task force looking at perceived under-utilization of primary care nurses in the province, makes 20 recommendations to improve access to quality primary care, increase system integration and effectiveness, while reducing costs. Among the recommendations are ensuring nurses are working to their existing scopes of practice; increasing scopes to allow nurses to prescribe and dispense medications, identify and communicate a diagnosis, and order diagnostic and lab tests.

The Royal Council of Nursing (RCN), which represents nurses in the United Kingdom, has launched a survey to determine the views of its members about a proposed 58 per cent increase in licensing fees. Meanwhile, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the nursing regulator, is undertaking its own consultation process about the proposed fee rise, which would see licensees pay £120 (approximately US$185) per year from January 1, 2013, up from the current fee of £76 (approximately $120). The RCN survey closes on July 31, 2012, while the NMC consultation concludes on August 24. The NMC has indicated that an increase is necessary to cover the projected cost of additional fitness to practice cases.

The Care and Quality Commission (CQC), England's health and social regulator, has published a detailed analysis of the performance of health and social care providers, based on 14,000 unannounced inspections. Areas of poor performance identified in the report are: management of medicines (with 17 per cent of locations inspected failing to meet the standard); staffing (with 11 per cent of locations inspected failing to meet one or both of two standards related to staffing); and record keeping (with 15 per cent of locations inspected failing to meet the standard).

New Jersey's General Assembly will consider Assembly Bill 1545 following its passage through the Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee. The bill seeks to streamline the reciprocity process where proof can be provided of out-of-State licensure, in good standing, from jurisdictions with “substantially equivalent” standards, a clean criminal history record background check, if this is required of other applicants, and where the license is from a state that affords similar reciprocity to New Jersey applicants. It further clarifies the process to be used when reactivating expired, or suspended, licenses.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has adopted regulations required to implement the Cemetery Oversight Act. The new rules require all cemeteries to obtain a license to operate a cemetery in the state, or to register as being fully or partially exempt from the Act. The law has seen the creation of a Consumer Bill of Rights which includes the requirement that cemeteries provide a standardized price list to consumers, and that signed contracts must be in place for consumers who purchase burial rights. In addition, since 2011, Illinois cemeteries have been entering burial data into a statewide data base, with more 67,000 records so far included in the database.

The United Kingdom General Medical Council (GMC) has lauched the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, which will run all fitness to practise panel and interim orders panel hearings for the medical profession in the UK. While the MPTS is part of the GMC, it is operationally separate from the Council's complaint handling, investigation and case presentation function. It is also accountable to the UK Parliament, which approved the establishment of the MPTS in 2011 after the current government decided not to proceed with the establishment of the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA). Speaking about the changes, Niall Dickson, the GMC's chief executive said: "The launch of the MPTS is the biggest change to doctors' fitness to practise hearings for more than 150 years. It represents a key part of our reforms and delivers a clear separation between investigations and the decisions made about a doctor's fitness to practise."

Guam's legislature is to consider Bill 461, the Social Work Practice Act, which would herald the licensure of social workers in the territory. If successful, each state or territory in the United States would have a regulatory or licensing requirement for social workers. The bill calls for the creation of a five-member Guam Social Workers Board, with the bill set to be effective one year after approval.

Court records show that Lynn Mays, a convicted felon, was denied an application for licensure by the Texas State Board of Barber Examiners, despite having his barber training paid for by a state agency. The Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, which provides help to those with disabilities, agreed to cover the cost of Mays' barber training, which he completed, before taking the practical and written exam. However, the state's Department of Regulation and Licensing declined the application for licensure stating "Barbers have direct contact with members of the general public, often in settings with no one else present, and a person with a predisposition for crimes involving prohibited sexual conduct would have the opportunity to engage in further similar conduct."

To prevent such catch-22 situations from arising, the department permits potential applicants to ask for an opinion on the likelihood of becoming licensed, given their particular criminal backgrounds, before signing up for training. In this instance, the department says, neither the applicant nor his attorney asked for such an opinion. Mays subsequently unsuccessfully appealed the decision to deny his application for licensure to the state's Office of Administrative Hearings.

The General Medical Council (GMC), the United Kingdom's medical regulator, has begun publishing newsletters outlining the steps it is taking to prepare for the revalidation of doctors, a process beginning from the end of 2012. Under the scheme, licensed doctors will be required to revalidate their license, typically every five years. The system will involve regular appraisals based on the guidance for doctors contained in Good Medical Practice.